Coast Getaway
I took Barb up the coast for an early bird birthday celebration. I sent her to a bookstore on Friday afternoon, and while she was gone, I packed our bags and closed up the house and we started driving north. We got as far as Guerneville before she couldn't stand the secrecy any more, so I told her we were headed for Gualala. It was a perfect northern California fall weekend, with clear blue blue blue skies and warm weather in the 70s.
The pink ladies were in bloom everywhere. I got to know these funny pink amaryllis-type flowers when I lived in Japan. There they have a name that translates "equinox flower", I think, and they are supposed to bloom exactly on Sept 22. In our neighborhood, they often pop up in August, as if they have amnesia.
We stayed in a little cabin north of Gualala. They say that the town was named after Valhalla, but spelled this way to aid the Spanish speaking folks who had to deliver the mail. It's pronounced "wa-la-la". On Saturday, we spent most of our time in Point Arena, where many of the town's little buildings have murals.
We hiked out to the wharf, stopping at a wonderful little antique store on the way. The woman who ran it was sitting in her sunny garden, chatting with a friend, and told us to explore all we wanted. The shop was in a ramshackle old shed that she had moved down the coast from the place where her Italian grandmother had lived in it. There was a tin roof and a tiny little front porch where you could just imagine her sitting in her rocking chair. She had a lot of bottles in there. There was more stuff in the barn, where I found a funny little aluminium dish that had a nice bird design on it. She didn't want any money for it, but we gave her a dollar for the fun we had had, digging around in there.
There is a lighthouse in Point Arena, because it's the point at which California's coast cuts sharply inward. There are also a lot of rocks. As we toured the lighthouse, we learned things that only lighthouse geeks want to know, those people who must go all around the country, touring lighthouses absorbing odd facts about fresnel lenses and clockwork devises. They have the tour pretty much set up for them. We climbed the 145 steps of the winding stairs and saw the gorgeous view.
OK, maybe I am slightly lighthouse-geekly, because I got pretty fascinated with that lens. Geek facts: It came from France in 18 pieces. It was shipped in crates of molasses to keep it from breaking. It prisms send the light out 15 miles into the ocean.
Lola enjoyed all the time we spent on the beaches. She blends in so very nicely with the scenery, don't you think?
The pink ladies were in bloom everywhere. I got to know these funny pink amaryllis-type flowers when I lived in Japan. There they have a name that translates "equinox flower", I think, and they are supposed to bloom exactly on Sept 22. In our neighborhood, they often pop up in August, as if they have amnesia.
We stayed in a little cabin north of Gualala. They say that the town was named after Valhalla, but spelled this way to aid the Spanish speaking folks who had to deliver the mail. It's pronounced "wa-la-la". On Saturday, we spent most of our time in Point Arena, where many of the town's little buildings have murals.
We hiked out to the wharf, stopping at a wonderful little antique store on the way. The woman who ran it was sitting in her sunny garden, chatting with a friend, and told us to explore all we wanted. The shop was in a ramshackle old shed that she had moved down the coast from the place where her Italian grandmother had lived in it. There was a tin roof and a tiny little front porch where you could just imagine her sitting in her rocking chair. She had a lot of bottles in there. There was more stuff in the barn, where I found a funny little aluminium dish that had a nice bird design on it. She didn't want any money for it, but we gave her a dollar for the fun we had had, digging around in there.
There is a lighthouse in Point Arena, because it's the point at which California's coast cuts sharply inward. There are also a lot of rocks. As we toured the lighthouse, we learned things that only lighthouse geeks want to know, those people who must go all around the country, touring lighthouses absorbing odd facts about fresnel lenses and clockwork devises. They have the tour pretty much set up for them. We climbed the 145 steps of the winding stairs and saw the gorgeous view.
OK, maybe I am slightly lighthouse-geekly, because I got pretty fascinated with that lens. Geek facts: It came from France in 18 pieces. It was shipped in crates of molasses to keep it from breaking. It prisms send the light out 15 miles into the ocean.
Lola enjoyed all the time we spent on the beaches. She blends in so very nicely with the scenery, don't you think?
This entry was posted
on Monday, September 26, 2005 at 5:32 AM.
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Sounds like a great trip.
You say Gualala,I say oo la la.
John
I wasn't sure how to e-mail you, so here I am. Thanks for the note! The director of my chorus is in Detroit right now. I thought of you last night and wondered at how connected things can be.
Aaron